A simple way to change your thoughts and yourself

Are you defined by the kind of thoughts you have?

What if today I have thoughts of saving water, helping to induce world peace, and so on. Will I be called a noble person?

And what if tomorrow, in anger I have thoughts of killing someone, will I be called an evil person?

Not, of course not. We define ourselves by what we do, not by what we think.

But why is it then a noble person can have evil thoughts?

This might seem a trivial question, but this simple riddle makes my life more like a roller coaster.

In the morning, I meditate for one hour. For a couple of hours after that, I have peaceful and kind thoughts. But as soon as someone starts yelling in my house or something doesn’t happen the way I want to, I too become restless.

Then as the day goes on, I may see a writer making a lot of money and think “Ah, if only I had that kind of following.” And when I go out with my friends, I may have thoughts that are in no way congruent to who I think I am.

You may think that this is quite common for all of us. That a variety of thoughts come to us during the day and we can’t do anything about it. After all, the mindfulness movement teaches us to let good those thoughts without clinging to them.

So what’s the issue here?

Thoughts Shape Us in Subtle Ways

The issue is that thoughts shape who we are, what habits we build, and which direction our lives go into.

Everything begins in this world as a thought. Then, as we keep thinking that thought, we give it energy. We perhaps start to think about acting on that thought. We make some sort of a plan. And then we act on it.

This is as true for the positive thoughts as it is for the negative ones in life.

Think about it. Whether it’s a project at work, or a plan to rob a bank, it all starts with a thought. That thought is however too subtle for us to notice.

In the first case, the thought can be a desire to build a building. In the latter, the first thought would perhaps be greed for money.

As we think more and more about that desire, we start to think of ways to make it a reality.

The final step in the process is, of course, to take action.

Thoughts Are The Pillars of Success

Since everything begins in life with a thought, thoughts should be the number one focus in our lives.

Each one of us has bad habits to let go of and good habits to build.

The biggest reason many people are stuck in the loop of bad habits is simple — they keep having those thoughts.

If I have a habit of eating a cookie after lunch, the reason it’s difficult to stop is I’ll keep having the thought. You can call this a craving, a desire, or anything else. At the end of the day, it’s a thought.

This principle can also be applied to achieve whatever you want in life. In fact, thought affirmations are a core teaching in the OG self-help book Think and Grow Rich.

But why do they work? And how can we use this knowledge to our advantage?

Thoughts Are Universally Rooted

Paramahansa Yogananda, a liberated master explained how the creation is structured.

There are three worlds — causal, astral, and physical.

God, out of His pure Consciousness, first created a very subtle causal universe, made of thoughts and ideas. “The causal world is indescribably subtle,” as you read in the Autobiography of a Yogi.

From those thoughts, He created the astral universe, which is less subtle, made of energy and light.

Out of that energy emerged the physical universe which we know is made of solid matter.

This is not only how Creation came into existence but it’s also how (as we saw above) everything comes into existence.

Thought → Energy → Matter

This includes us as well. Owing to this explanation, we have causal, astral, and physical bodies. (But that’s for another discussion).

Since we’re first made as thoughts, then energy, and then matter, our thoughts are actually not ‘our own’.

Thoughts just are. But according to our level of consciousness, we attract that kind of thought that matches our ‘vibration’.

Let’s test this from empirical evidence.

If you’re feeling tired, you’re much more likely to indulge in bad habits like having too much sugar, smoking, drinking, pornography, and whatnot.

On the other hand, when you feel happy, and uplifted, you’re motivated to work and achieve whatever goal you have.

What’s happening?

The level of consciousness is changing.

And as a result, we attract the kind of thought according to our level of consciousness.

Our thoughts are not our own. And thus, having one kind of thought doesn’t mean that you’re that kind of person.

From a spiritual perspective, if you’re ‘feeling down’ your energy in the spine is also flowing downwards. That kind of energy then attracts thoughts of sense indulgence and basically all bad habits you can think of.

When you’re feeling ‘uplifted’, the energy in your spine is flowing upwards, and you feel loving (a result of energy centered in the heart), calm (a result of energy centered in the throat chakra), and focused (a result of energy centered in the Agya chakra, at the point between the eyebrows).

So the crux of the concept is that your thoughts are entirely dependent on your level of consciousness which is determined by where the energy is centered in the spine.

As another example, if your energy is centered in the navel center (called the ‘Manipura’ chakra) you can have a tendency to want to control others leading to unnecessary stress.

One fascinating example of thoughts being universally rooted is how discoveries in the scientific literature often occur at about the same time by unrelated groups. Disputes over patents, inventions, etc then ensue. What happens is that the thought for the particular invention was already present in the ether, and more than one person attuned themselves to that thought.

It’s a marvelous concept if you meditate on it.

So What Can You Do?

The practical, spiritual teaching here is that we can change the flow and level of our thoughts by attuning ourselves to the right “radio station frequency.”

Just like you keep fine-tuning the radio until you hear the desired channel you want, we have to keep fine-tuning our vibrations.

The obvious step to do this is to be more with the kind of people you want to emulate. Those kinds of vibrations will then rub off you. They, in other words, can help you ‘tune-in’ to the right frequency.

The higher truth of this teaching comes when we start to understand that thoughts and feelings are only different aspects of God-consciousness.

This is when true change happens in our lives. It is then you realize that just by tuning into His presence you can have anything you want — love, compassion, peace, happiness, bliss, and so on.

You do this by raising your consciousness for which one of the best ways is meditation.

The Takeaway

Why take blame or credit for your thoughts? They don’t define you. You can change your thoughts in an instant by changing your level of consciousness.

It’s a great secret to accomplish anything in life. I hope you don’t take it lightly.

Everything becomes better when you work on raising your own consciousness. The moment your consciousness changes, you start to have the kind of thoughts necessary for your growth.

Because at the end of the day, all that you want is already there, you just have to tune in to it and (at the risk of sounding too ‘woo-woo’) manifest it!

---

Struggling to meditate? Get your free 7 Day email course — Meditation 101: How to Start Meditating